Felix Scholz
For some reason we've been humming The Girl from Ipanema' this week and exhibiting a far greater than usual interest in the sports of fencing and field hockey (the Kookaburras beat the Irish 1-0 on Wednesday). It must also be said that the occasional call and response of Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi! Has been known to burst forth in the office. Yep, we're getting ready for the all-sprinting, all-dancing spectacle that is Rio 2016. But before we go full Olympic, let's crack a refreshing beverage and have a look at the watches that caught our eye this week.A Japanese One PieceTAG Heuer has been signing partnerships and sponsorships left, right and centre these days, with everything from DJs, to big wave surfers to commercial space flight on the table. But hands down the coolest collab we've seen from TAG Heuer yet is this Japan-only Aquaracer Phantom One Piece a limited edition of 100 watches made to celebrate One Piece, the world's longest running manga comic. We don't know anything about those dudes on the dial, but that doesn't stop us from wanting this watch. Desperately. Just look at that skull and crossbones on the bezel. Badass.A blue GermanGerman watch brand Stowa is best-known for its popular pilot's watches. But the brand also make a robust diver called the Prodiver, offered in some funky colourways (lime green and tangerine for example). Stowa has just announced a new, blue, limited edition with what appears to be a graduated blue dial that looks oddly familiar to the watch below. What do you think? Fair play or too close for comfort?A Swiss IronyImage via watch-insider Everyone's favourite entry-level auto (aside from the Seiko 5), got a metal makeover. The Sistem51, previously only an option in fantastic plastic, has been released (in many versions) as part of Swatch's Irony collection. On particularly interesting option is this flieger-esque Sistem Arrow.A complicated ItalianPanerai were uncharacteristically quiet at SIHH this year, with a fairly small number of new releases. Turns out they were just saving their ammo. Panerai released a brace?of new models at the Dive into Time' exhibition a few months back, and now they're giving us (well, not exactly giving,?this one has an RRP of $29,400) two new titanium equation of time models. And while EOT watches have been known to confuse and anger the Time+Tide team, there's no denying that this guy, with its pretty blue face and big 47mm body, looks the business.The week in numbers:6: Watches for six types of villain. Yet another reason to not trust someone with an Apple Watch.17:?Passionate, conflicting and at times downright hilarious responses to the Air-King.26: Brooding looks the rakishly handsome Chris Edwards gives in our?Cartier Drive Man video.3976: Views on Instagram Stories of the epic, and on-brand for the week, superhero battle between Andrew’s Batman and Andy’s Hulk.5.5: Hours wasted tooling around with Instagram Stories in the office.
05.08.16